2006-05-25

Hate Mail!

So, I was featured in Library Journal's wonderful Movers & Shakers supplement in March. It's a huge honor, I was thrilled to be in such wonderful company, and I was particularly delighted with the photo they chose. I thought it was a sassy (which I am), cute (which my husband assures me I am, though I harbor the occasional doubt), and playful reference to my lifelong obsession with pop culture and in particular my long history of going to concerts. (Thanks to my awesome Dad, that history began when I was just 12 years old. I dragged him as my chaperone to my first concert in 1989 -- we saw The Replacements at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby. It was not a great show, as the band were all wasted, but it was quite the experience, and I was hooked.)

And now, hate mail (scroll down to where it says "No Smoking!"). Clearly, my work here is very far from done.

Steve, my Dad took me to see R.E.M. a few months after the ill-fated Replacements gig. I think my husband would give his eye teeth to have attended the show you saw, though! Come to think of it, he probably has a bootleg copy of the show on cassette (and possibly on CD) somewhere.

When I read the "how sad..." comment in LJ, I laughed and I sighed. Here's what I see as the three sad elements to this affair:Sad 1: That Ms. Skiles was not culturally literate enough to get the "encore" message of the lighter held high (with your rock star sweatshirt even offering a bit of context.)Sad 2: That Ms. Skiles felt that her upset warranted a public scolding; enough so that she invested the time and energy to write a letter about it.Sad 3: That LJ chose to print that letter. If they got 100 such letters and felt that they needed to print one to fairly represent a generally expressed sentiment I could understand. I'm guessing that's not the case, and I find myself feeling a bit bad for scoldy Ms. Skiles, her scoldiness exposed for all to see. But I guess she made her bed, lumpy mattress, hospital corners and all, and now she must lie in it.

In an unrelated development, I want to comment on Melissa's comment and say, ohmygod, Joe versus the Volcano is one of my favorite movies and I don't understand why it is held in such generally low regard (if it's regarded at all.) "Very interesting...As a luggage problem." If that ain't genius, I just don't know what is.

You know, I always read the LJ letters, and I always think, what a dumb@$$.This won the out-of-touch and hysteric librarian award, though.Close runner-ups are any "I hate the bun stereotype" letters I read when I'm rocking a bun that day.

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